


The Lockett

by BananaDude64



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:09:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23884297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BananaDude64/pseuds/BananaDude64
Summary: Luna decides to go back home to celebrate her birthday and remember her late best friend.





	The Lockett

The Locket  
Luna had just turned 24. She celebrated her birthday every year with her best friend, Sola. Their names were just a coincidence, but they always joked that their fates were forever intertwined, that the universe brought about their friendship as surely as it brought about the sun every morning, and the moon every night. This year however, Luna was going it alone for the first time. It’d been a tough year and half, and she was having trouble dealing with life without her sun. She decided she would fly to their old town in Washington, just near the Redwood Forest, and celebrate her birthday at her family’s old place, Sola ever present in her mind.  
Luna arrived safely, and made her way to her childhood home, a big white two-story house, alone in the middle of the woods. It was a comfortable, cozy place that she and Sola had loved to play in and around. Luna was greeted by the friendly groundskeeper, Herman, the only person currently living on the land.

“I’m sorry ma’am, this is private property. If you got lost on the trail, I’d be glad to help you find  
your way back?”

Luna scoffed, but realized she’d only been a teen when Herman last saw her. She looked quite different now, having cut her hair shorter and grown more comfortable and confident in her style, with much more self-assurance in her stance than when she was a teen.

“Herm, it’s me, you dork!” Herman stood for a moment as the realization dawned on him. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry Loon, how have you been?”

“Been better,” she retorted flatly. “It’s good to see you here though. It’s like I never left.”

Herman smiled. “Well, I should hope so. I’ve kept everything exactly as it was. Here, go have a look!”  
Hewent on to gesture to the house. “Oh, and if I recall correctly, your birthday is coming up right, Loon? Almost didn’t recognize you with all those wrinkles,” he said as he cracked a wry smile.

“Hey, a trademarked Herm zinger! Thank you, though. I wanted to come home and celebrate it here,” Luna said genuinely. 

“Of course, now go on and check the place out!” Herm said, knowing she must be eager to get inside after traveling all this way.

Luna made her way to the house; she had a big front yard with a swing set and a trampoline, and could see the ghosts of her younger self and Sola talking the night away. They had spent every night of one summer swinging on those swings talking about basically anything and everything under the sun. She could hear Sola’s laugh as clear as day ringing through the area. Luna looked down for a moment, to the locket she always kept around her neck. She flipped it open, glancing at Sola’s portrait, taken in front of the pond in the woods they used to hang out around. She hesitated, then closed it and looked back up to the swingset. There was a slight breeze and what looked like tiny little sparks in the corner of her eyes as she was turning her head up, and the faintest outline of the swingset faded away as she stood there, confused.

“What the... ?” she said aloud.

She looked at the trampoline, as if to get reoriented, but sure enough the swingset was gone. She looked around for Herman, but he was out of sight as well. “I must be having a stroke or something...” she thought to herself, trying to detect the scent of burnt popcorn. Deciding to let it go, she headed up towards the porch of her house. 

Going through the door, she passed the kitchen and could almost see visions of her and Sola making cookies and watching movies in the living room next to it. She wasn’t expecting the experience of being here to hit her so intensely. The house felt somehow warm and friendly and so dark and lonely, all at the same time. Luna wasn’t sure how she should feel being here, but she was certain it wasn’t supposed to be like this. She grasped at her locket again, wanting to just feel some sort of guaranteed comfort. Just then, a beeping could be heard from the kitchen. Luna walked over, and identified the noise as coming from the oven. It was set to 350℉. She opened the oven door, and there was… nothing. She closed the oven door and turned around, when she heard a metal clunk from inside it. She peeled around and opened the door once more, where she noticed an empty cookie tray. “Okay, I’m insane, what the hell is going on here? I swear that was empty!” Luna turned off the oven, an eerie calm washing over her and just stood in the center of the kitchen. 

“I need to lie down before I have a panic attack.”

Feeling unhinged and worn out, Luna headed upstairs straight to her old bedroom. She didn’t dare look around this time, deciding to just lay down for a bit. She fell asleep quickly, her familiar bed instantly lulling her to a deep sleep. She dreamed of her favorite place in the world, a small pond in the forest she used to walk to with Sola, and sure enough, Sola was there waiting for her. They explored the area just talking and laughing and hanging out, when they came across a bed of flowers that appeared to grow out of nowhere. Suddenly, two lockets grew out of the soil right in the middle, the glint catching both girls’ eyes. Without speaking, they both took the lockets and a picture to fill it with. Luna left their little oasis, the flower bed now lifeless, unbeknownst to her, while Sola stayed behind. Luna looked at the locket in her hand, and woke up with a start.

She sat up, trying to separate memories from dreams, not sure what was real anymore. Damn, she wished it was real. The pull of gravity felt a bit heavier on her neck, and she looked down and noticed that there were now two lockets instead of one. She opened the second one, and sure enough, there was a picture of her by the pond, right in front of the flower bed. The sound of blood pulsing harder and faster in her skull and chest filled her ears as she felt fear, loss, confusion, hope, and happiness simultaneously overwhelm her heart. She left the house, now just filled with determination to get to the bottom of this, basing her instinct off the only lead she had. 

Clouds covered the full moon and the feel of the breeze was oddly normal as she rushed out of the house on the weirdest day of her life. Mulch and grass gently crunched as Luna made her way deeper into the forest, looking for the old trail she used to use to get to her and Sola’s spot. As soon as she got on the trail, the faint sounds of metal creaking hit her ears, which wasn’t surprising to her. She had a feeling she’d encounter that sound, and tried to follow it to the source. Trees started to clear out, and as the metal creaking got louder, the sound of rippling water became evident. She found the pond, and the metal creaking was easily heard, but the source of it was not evident like she thought it would be. Wandering around the pond, she finally found the flower bed she was after. Dead wildflowers all around her, she placed the lockets back into the soil. The dirt seemed to swallow them whole, and the flowers perked up, rejuvenated. The sky seemed to clear up and the sun came out, replacing the moon. She looked up and saw the swingset she suspected she had heard, and on them a plate of still steaming cookies. She headed towards the swingset and took a cookie from the plate. Luna closed her eyes, biting into the cookie enjoying the moment. She opened her eyes, and a friendly voice swinging next to her said, “Happy birthday, Luna. I made you cookies!”

The End.


End file.
